Today, I started reading ‘Narcopolis’ by Jeet Thayil (it has been shortlisted for the Booker prize this year), for book club. The first page went like this :
“Bombay, which obliterated its own history by changing its name and surgically altering its face, is the hero or heroin of this story and since I’m the one who’s telling it and you don’t know who I am, let me say that we’ll get to the who of it but not right now, because now there’s time enough not to hurry, to light the lamp and open the window to the moon and take a moment to dream of a great and broken city, because when the day starts its business I’ll have to stop, these are night-time tales that vanish in sunlight like vampire dust – wait now, light me up so we do this right, yes, hold me steady to the lamp, hold it, hold, good, a slow pull to start with, to draw the smoke low into the lungs, yes, oh my, and another for the nostrils, and a little something sweet for the mouth, and now we can begin at the beginning with the first time at Rashid’s when I stitched the blue smoke from pipe to blood to eye to I and out into the blue world – and now you’re getting to the who of it and I can tell you that I, the I you’re imagining at this moment, a thinking someone who’s writing these words, who’s arranging time in a logical chronological sequence, someone with an overall plan, an engineer-god in the machine, well, that isn’t the I who’s telling this story, that’s the I who’s being told, thinking of my first pipe at Rashid’s, trawling my head for images, a face, a bit of music, or the sound of someone’s voice, trying to remember what it was like, the past, recall it as I would the landscape and light of a foreign country….”
And on and on it went – one sentence stretching on to six more pages. Who said that the long Proustian sentence was dead? It is alive and kicking! Thanks to Jeet Thayil for showing us that. Can’t wait to read the rest of the book.
Jeet Thayil did an excellent job conveying the thoughts and feelings of those helplessly addicted to opium and other substances. I hope you’ll enjoy the rest of it as much as the opening 🙂
Interesting to know that, Chinoiseries! I can’t wait to continue reading the book.
I bought that a week ago and started reading on the bus and thought “Oops that mighte more concentration”… But that’s an introdcution or epilogue, right? I wonder if all of it is like that, I put it away for the moment. I’m looking forward to your thoughts on it.
Yes that ‘long’ sentence is the prologue, Caroline 🙂 The rest of the book is not that ‘bad’ 🙂 Hope you enjoy reading it. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it. I had parked it for a while to start Antonio Tabucchi week 🙂 Now I have to get back to it again.
I greatly enjoyed this book and will be very interested in reading your thoughts on the book upon compleletion.
Glad to know that you liked the book, Mel. I am liking it so far and am looking forward to continuing to read it.
Ooh, I haven’t really been tempted to read anything on this year’s Booker shortlist yet, but I *do* like long Proustian sentences!
Maybe you will like this book, Heather. Eventhough the sentence was long, it wasn’t that hard to grasp. If you do get to read it, I will look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.
Since I’m still working on Proust perhaps I should wait awhile before I undertake this one!
Ha, ha, ha! You are my inspiration, Heidi 🙂 Hope you get to read this book, after you finish re-reading Proust. Will look forward to hearing your thoughts on it if you get to read it.
Whoa…a sentence spanning 6 pages? I hope that was in large print…haha. But that excerpt does perk my interest in the book.
The print is not bad, Nish. And sentence is really nice 🙂 Hope you get to read this book and like it. Will look forward to hearing your thoughts on it, if you get to read it.
Impressive! I can’t imagine a sentence spanning 6 pages. I remember reading texts for my philosophy studies in college and thinking that half a page was a long sentence!
It is very long, Linda. But it is also quite straightforward. I always admire you for reading those half page long sentences on philosophy because the subject is abstract and the sentences are dense with meaning. I am sure each word was quite important there.
Woah, that’s quite a sentence! My publisher cut down some of my sentences because he said they were too long – can’t imagine what he’d have made of this!
I’m reading Pereira Maintains right now, so am deliberately not reading your latest review – will check back and read it when I’ve finished the book 🙂
It is interesting what your publisher did, Andrew. Sometimes I feel sad when sentences are shortened like this, because a longer sentence is also work for the brain and keeps the reader sharp. Sometimes short sentences feel like lazy reading. Nice to know that you are reading ‘Pereira Maintains’ now. Can’t wait to read your thoughts on it 🙂
Yes, I like longer sentences, especially when they are mixed with short sentences – it gives a nice variety, I think. Wouldn’t want to read a whole novel of sentences like the one above, but when they’re dropped in from time to time I enjoy it!
Yes, if a novel if filled with only sentences like the above, it is going to be tough to maintain our enthusiasm for it 🙂 Luckily the author of this book changes his style after the prologue.
Last year I heard the author read this at the Booker Shortlist event. It was a wonderful experience. I still haven’t read the book. I need to
Nice to know that you heard the author read last year, TBM. Hope you enjoy reading the book. Happy reading!